2
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
N
Save the Upper
Deschutes
By Jeff Perin
Guest Columnist
g
n
i
v
i
g
s
k
n
a
h
T
Happy
from the staff at
r
e
p
a
p
s
w
e
N
t
e
g
g
The Nu
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone
number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces-
sarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters
submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or
returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
While President Obama is pardoning two
turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us
can exercise that same presidential power by
choosing a nonviolent Thanksgiving obser-
vance that spares a turkey’s life.
And here are some good reasons:
• You can brag about pardoning a turkey —
like Obama.
• You truly are what you eat. Who wants to
be a “butterball”?
• Fruits and vegetables don’t have to carry
government warning labels.
• You won’t sweat the environment-and-
food-resources-devastation guilt trip.
• You won’t spend a sleepless night won-
dering how the turkey lived and died.
• Your body will appreciate a holiday from
saturated fat, cholesterol, and hormones.
• You won’t have to call Poultry Hotline to
keep your family out of the emergency room.
Seriously, this Thanksgiving let’s give
thanks for our good fortune, health, and
happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free
feast of vegetables, fruits, and grains.
Our own dinner will feature a soy- or
wheat-based roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed
squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce, and
pumpkin pie. An Internet search on “vegetar-
ian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes
and other useful information than we could
possibly use.
Siegfried Neufhaus
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Have recently read the history of Henry
Kissinger, a book which implied that many
in national office and striving to get in have
very little knowledge of the tasks they are to
handle.
The Russian airliner, the Paris tragedy and
other ISIS cruelties led me to another book just
out: “1944 — FDR and the Year that Changed
See letterS on page 11
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Snow showers
Sunny
Sunny
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
25/7
26/9
30/9
31/14
35/17
35/na
The Nugget Newspaper, Inc.
Website: www.nuggetnews.com
442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759
Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to
The Nugget Newspaper,
P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759.
Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon.
Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson
News Editor: Jim Cornelius
Production Manager: Leith Williver
Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken
Advertising: Lisa Buckley
Graphic Design: Jess Draper
Proofreader: Pete Rathbun
Accounting: Erin Bordonaro
The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area.
Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55.
Published Weekly. ©2014 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which
appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for
information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition-
ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently
available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts.
One of my favorite riv-
ers is very broken.
Once considered a
blue-ribbon trout river,
the Upper Deschutes from
Wickiup Reservoir down
to Bend is now abused. The
river is treated like an irri-
gation ditch.
It is no longer the spe-
cial place it once was.
Growing up as a
Portland kid, I first fished
the Upper Deschutes when
I moved to Bend in the
summer of 1980. At the age
of 11, I was just getting my
fishing game together. That
evening on the river was a
life-changing event.
Later, as a grown-up
(as much a fishing guide
can call themselves a
grown-up) I’ve rowed my
drift boat down that part
of the river for numerous
clients and good friends,
and we used to experience
epic hatches and excellent
fishing.
The sad exclamation
point to the problem came
when the compounding
conditions really caught up
with us back in 2013. This
is not simply a drought
issue, this is largely a water
mismanagement issue that
has gone on for decades!
In 2013, on my last
drift for the season on the
Upper Deschutes, the river
flowed at 1,500 cfs. That
was in mid-September. Two
weeks later, water releases
from the dam were tapered
all the way down to a dev-
astating 20 cfs for the rest
of the winter. Back-to-back
Artic blasts in November
and December froze the
river from bank to bank. In
some areas ice was solid to
the bottom of the riverbed.
Trout and ESA-listed
spotted frogs died in
unprecedented numbers.
It was the worst blow to
a river I’d ever witnessed.
When you go upstream
towards Wickiup Dam and
look at nearly 20 miles
of river up there … that
is when you’ll see the
Deschutes at it’s worst.
Really, if you saw how
the river looked today you
would be appalled.
When the Deschutes was
at it’s best, before the dams
were built at Crane Prairie
and Wickiup, the river ran
a consistent flow of about
700 cfs. At one time, fish
were so abundant there was
a 125-fish limit upstream of
Bend.
Now, in the summer,
when the irrigation water
is being delivered toward
Bend the river channel is
up to 10 feet deep and runs
2,000 cfs — three times
natural flow.
With the canals turned
off for winter, the river
channel can be measured in
inches.
This leaves a serious
issue with silting, and an
even more serious issue
of habitat loss. Habitat for
trout is key. Habitat for
ESA-listed spotted frogs
is now critical. Habitat for
aquatic insects is largely
lost at this point.
We are just beginning
to see some cooperation
with agriculture, golf, and
development, but we have
a long way to go to bring
the Deschutes back from
the brink. We need a tighter
relationship with the agri-
culture community. A will-
ingness to share and con-
serve has never been more
important.
It has been well over 10
years since the newest man-
agement plan began; we are
losing ground for a healthy
river.
Water Watch is push-
ing for changes we need
in Central Oregon right
now. And you can help
us right now. Don’t stand
for the Upper Deschutes
or the Crooked River
being treated as irrigation
ditches any more. They’ve
been treated like this for
years, and it is time to stop
that. Water Watch (http://
waterwatch.org/programs/
deschutes/land) is the
best chance we have to
save our Central Oregon
rivers. Please help us
now!
Jeff Perin owns and
operates The Fly Fisher’s
Place in Sisters.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.